I have a Mills Mounted Ammo Belt bought about 25 years ago from Manion's for a little over 10 bucks (times have changed somewhat since then).

I've had it displayed with a Mills .45 Pouch all this time (the upper Belt in the shot below), but doing a little picture shoot comparing it to an M1912 Mounted Rifle Belt I was blessed with recently, I discovered that the .45 Pouch will not slide onto the Belt. The Pouch on the Rifle Belt is slightly larger, but it won't go on the other Belt either.

I have a Chase and a Plant Bros. Pouch, both of which slide right on.

Did Mills produce different variants of these .45 Pouches? Maybe the one I have is only for Pistol Belts...any knowledge on this out there??

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Several years ago I loaned out some equipment for a display, and the belt I chose was a 'sewn' Plant Brothers mounted belt from 1918. I thought I would toss on a period .45 magazine pouch to complete the belt. Trying to slide the pouch onto the belt was the tightest fit I have seen, but it is apparently not an uncommon problem to have. Which part was your major obstacle, the buckle? I seem to recall there were complaints about the fit, but I don't remember where I read it now.

Rusty, you got it- the buckle just wouldn't get through the tunnel...or maybe I didn't try hard enough with the Pouch from the Rifle Belt, which is sewn differently at the tunnel area and therefore is slightly larger. Thanks for the input; the odd thing is that the other 2 "round-flap" pouches will slip right on

And thanks for the comment...here are the 2 Belts compared. The Rifle Belt was not cheap; I should've grabbed one back when they were "only" 2 or 3 hundred bucks...

Robin- I tried that, and it started in until it hit the center of the Pouch, then it got "stuck". There are a couple of the "wider" Pouches for sale on Ebay- I may just buy one and continue to work on it, as I don't want to separate the bigger Pouch from the Rifle Belt...they've been together quite a while, from the look of it.

Cololab- The wide Pouch from the Rifle Belt measures about 4" vertically, as opposed to 3 3/4" on the other one. I know that woven cotton will stretch just a tad, so I'll just have to keep fooling with it.

Thanks for the compliment; here is the rear side of the Belts showing their difference in construction...

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I have noticed the same problem. I wonder if you were to give up on the buckle end and disassemble the belt removing the back adjustment strap and then slide the pouch on from the back end. Not sure it will work but trying to force 100 year old stitching may not end well.

I have noticed the same problem. I wonder if you were to give up on the buckle end and disassemble the belt removing the back adjustment strap and then slide the pouch on from the back end. Not sure it will work but trying to force 100 year old stitching may not end well.

LOL- My very thought whenever I handle this stuff!
I'm gonna try that method of attempting it from the inner end...sounds pretty plausible...thanks!

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Thinking about it, it makes quite a bit of sense that the pistol magazine pouch should slip over the rifle pockets to reach its spot on the belt rather than being slipped over the buckle. That way, as the equipment wears, there would be less likelihood of the pouch slipping over the buckle and getting lost when the belt is undone.

Al, that's a great point...especially with many these Belts lacking the female press snap to hold the pouch in place. I'm surmising that the snaps fitted to the Belts were a later addition, but that's just speculation at this point. I need to get hold of a good reference on this earlier web gear for more details on these things...